The Venice International Film Festival has reached out to Asia in selecting this year’s jury.

The festival, which opens next month, named Hong Kong director Peter Chan among its nine-member panel for the main competition’s films.

Mr. Chan is one of Asia’s most-prominent commercial filmmakers and a leading figure in Chinese-language movies. His directing career began more than 20 years ago and includes the award-winning “Comrades, Almost a Love Story” (1996) and the 2007 war epic “The Warlords.” Last year, he ventured into the martial-arts genre with “Wu Xia.” Read More »